five minutes
by Lossie
Summary: "If first impressions were really that important, she was royally screwed." Non-massacre; mostly Itachi/OC, sasusaku and naruhina; other pairings mentioned
1. Chapter 1: Impression

**A/N**: I just want to say that this story came out of nowhere, but I really enjoy writing it. Since I'm crazy about non-massacre fics, sasusaku and Itachi (because they are the best things since ever when it comes to "Naruto" and you better believe it!), I decided to combine all three in a quirky, fun story that has nothing to do with canon, but is really easy to write and (hopefully) read. There will be a lot of Itachi/OC, but it will be balanced out by sasusaku quite evenly, so I hope that a lot of people will enjoy it.  
>If by the end of this story (which will be around 7 chapters long) you would like me to write another one, this time all about how Sakura and Sasuke became a couple (a oneshot, a chapter fic - you choose!), I'll gladly consider it~<p>

For now, simply enjoy the madness! ;)

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><p><strong>FIVE MINUTES<strong>

"It wasn't love at first sight. It took a full five minutes."  
>-Lucille Ball<p>

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Impression<strong>

_(n) the effect or influence that something or someone has on a person's thoughts or feelings  
><em>

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><p>Her clothes, namely the pantlegs of her trousers all the way up to her mid-thighs, were frozen.<p>

As in stiff-beyond-belief and making-it-hard-to-walk-in kind of frozen.

It was unbelievable, plain and simple, and she wondered briefly – but not for the first time – if coming to Konoha head-on without inquiring about the weather conditions there was such a good idea. Obviously it wasn't. The telltale sights of an upcoming cold, shivers and loud achooes included, were clearly a sign from gods that she should have stayed in Suna instead of embracing on the adventure.

What was supposed to be a three-days-long, easy-peasy trip to Konoha was turning out to be quite a challenge. If she was completely honest with herself, she would say that if it wasn't for the Konoha nins who had met her at the border of Wind and Fire to escort her to their village and lent her some of their weather-appropriate clothes, she would have frozen to death a day and a half ago. And death by her own stupidity wasn't on the top of the list of her priorities. Not to mention that she highly doubt her siblings would survive without her. That and she absolutely refused to be bested by frozen water, thank you very much.

On the brighter side, she could actually see Konoha's gates now. Or at least a little bit of them, since the blizzard was successfully blocking her view. It was only thanks to Konohamaru that she even knew what the splash of green and red in the distance was, since she had never been to Konoha before. Hell, she had never left the borders of the Wind country! Even during the 4th Shinobi War she had stayed in the relative safety of the village, because someone apparently needed to take care of Suna's citizens, when their brave and noble Kage was off fighting.

For the most part she didn't mind it. Suna was her home and almost all of the precious people in her life lived there, but when Sakura had come to her almost two months ago and asked her _in person_ to be her maid of honour, she could hardly say no.

Of course agreeing to that heart-warming request was one thing. Making sure she could go through with her promise to attend and be present in Konoha before the reception was another thing entirely.

She had many responsibilities as the Kazekage's sister. In fact she had more of them than the Kazekage himself and then some. She was his self-appointed assistant, an Academy teacher and a part-time babysitter for her sister's two little devils. If she had free time, she would still spend it all doing something productive, either for her family or her village. And when, by some miracle, she had both free time and nothing to do, she would go bonkers. She was so used to taking care of others that not doing so seemed somehow wrong. It was very exhausting and time consuming (especially considering just how stubborn Gaara could be when he wanted to), so it wasn't unusual for Hanae to be almost too tired to think straight. Still she point-blank rejected any and all willing helpers. She could manage everything herself and she really didn't need anyone to stuck their nose where it obviously didn't belong.

Besides, the kind of work she did while in the Kazekage tower was hardly within anyone else's expertise, because only she could push Gaara's buttons as much as she did and live long enough to tell the tale.

"Hanae-san, I believe there's a welcoming committee waiting for you at the gates!"

She looked at Konohamaru, who appeared unfairly cheerful through the entire journey, and then at the gates, where she could indeed see two blurry figures. One was red with a splash of pink on top, which was a colour combination that pointed to one person and one person only, namely Haruno Sakura. The second was very black, so she could make an educated guess that it was someone from the Uchiha clan. She had seen a lot of them pass through Suna over the years and she could swear she had never seen them in any other colours that black, dark blue and grey. A very boring colour scheme, if anyone asked her.

"T-that's n-nice," she said, through her clanging teeth and numb lips made it sound more like a stammer.

They increased their pace. Even though she was bone-tired and unbelievably cold, she made an effort to move faster if only to reach the safety and warmth a bit sooner. By the time they made it to the two figures (who turned out to be Sakura and an Uchiha, like she had predicted), her legs were unable to support her body any longer and if it wasn't for the Uchiha's quick reflex, she would have face-planted onto the snow-covered ground. Instead she found herself with her face full of a deliciously warm chest of a complete stranger that smelled like honeydew and something musky.

"Oh Kami, Hanae! Are you alright?!" Sakura's voice was slightly high-pitched and full of panic. "What happened to you?"

"F-fire h-happened," she mumbled into the aforementioned chest that rumbled gently with a man's – because that was most definitely a man's chest – deep, but quiet laughter.

She could hear someone snort from behind her and then she felt the familiar sensation of her friend's healing chakra as Sakura pressed her hands to the back of her head. It was really nice and soothing. The warmth of Sakura's chakra, combined with the warm body in front of her, made her rather sleepy.

"You have a very high fever," Sakura exclaimed worriedly after the withdrew her hands. "And we need to get you of this cold. Otherwise you're bound to end up with hypothermia."

At her friend's words, she turned her head to look at her and smiled at the concerned look on the medic's face. Then she turned her attention back to the person who was still holding her and her smile only widened. The man was really beautiful.

"Hi," she said, completely ignoring the fact that she was probably delirious and therefore should keep her mouth shut. "You smell nice."

"I'm truly delighted to make your acquaintance as well, Hanae-san," he replied with a barely-there smile. She could also detect amusement in his dark eyes. Or she was simply imagining things. Both scenarios were equally possible.

She didn't register much of what happened next. There was a commotion and she was suddenly in the man's arms, snuggled against his body. Sakura was saying something. They moved. At some point they've entered a house, she was sure, because the wind and snow were gone. Then someone's gentle hands helped her change into a set of soft not-frozen clothes and right after that she was back in the arms of the honeydew man (his smell and his voice were a testimony to that) as he carried her somewhere.

She didn't quite know where exactly, because she had fallen asleep almost immediately after he had picked her up.

-o-o-o-

Everything was warm and soft, and welcoming. Her head felt heavy, but it hurt a lot more than it did before she had landed herself in this unfamiliar room.

She took her time looking around. The place was obviously traditional. The shoji screens, tatami mats and a large futon she was currently laying on had told her that much straight away. When she moved her head to the side, blinking leisurely to get rid of the remains of sleepiness that were still making her brain kind of fuzzy, she immediately noticed a glass of water, a plastic cup with pills inside and a small piece of paper.

She squeezed her eyes shut before blinking a few more times. With her head slightly lighter, she attempted to sit up. As expected, it resulted with a rather alarming feeling of vertigo, which forced her to freeze for a moment and take a few deep breathes. When she was sure she wouldn't end up unconscious, she moved the rest of the way up. She reached out and grasped the piece of paper.

_The pills will help. Drink a lot of water and tea. I'll back as soon as I can! –Sakura_

Humming in thought, she put the note down and then picked both the glass and the plastic cup. The pills tasted bitter and the water wasn't helping her with getting rid of that horrid taste. That's why she hated being ill. The medication always tasted awful. The dull pounding in her head wasn't making it any better either.

Sighing, she looked around the room once again, this time in a somewhat lucid state, but there was sadly nothing more to it besides her backpack propped against one of the walls, which, from the looks of it, was empty. She hadn't noticed it before. It looked like some merciful soul (more than likely Sakura) had taken her clothes out of it to let them dry. Her katana, the array of scrolls, three weapon pouches and a sponge bag were laid down beside it.

Somewhat reassured that her belongings were still in one piece, she raised from the bed. This time there was no dizziness. Apparently Sakura's pills were already working their magic. She shivered when the chilly air hit her bare calf. A pair of pants would have been nice, but since all of her clothes were somewhere else – and she didn't exactly know where – she settled for the next best thing, which happened to be the fluffy crimson blanket that had been draped over her covers. She wrapped it around herself and almost purred at its warmth.

It was truly amazing how such a small thing could make a person happy,

Satisfied with herself, she made her way to the door. Once there, she peaked outside. The corridor was empty and silent, which probably meant that Sakura wasn't yet home. Shrugging, she made her way down the hall and then turned right. There was a faint smell of coffee floating through the air, which would hopefully lead her to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Hanae-san."

She yelped, jumping up in fright and dropping the blanket to the ground, before abruptly turning around to address the person who had just scared her half to death.

However the words got stuck in her throat upon seeing said person.

Her memories from the day she had arrived to Konoha came back in flashes. They weren't exactly clean, but that didn't stop her from recognizing the man's voice. She was pretty sure that if she sniffed the air right now, the sweet smell of honeydew would attest to it as well.

"Morning," she choked out, all the while feeling her face heat up in embarrassment. She had squashed her face into his chest the last time they talked – if her appalling attempt at flirtation and his too-polite greeting classified as such – and made a spectacle out of herself.

If first impressions were really that important, she was royally screwed.

-o-o-o-

If anyone said that they never judged people by their looks and only ever paid attention to what was hidden within, they were obviously lying, mostly to themselves. It took the brain more or less thirty seconds to assess someone. There was no deep thinking involved, no psychology whatsoever – just basic survival instincts.

Uchiha Itachi had always fancied himself a good judge of character. His self-preservation was up-to-date as well, since he was still very much alive in spite of the fact that every rouge nin he had encountered in the last twelve years of his life had been strangely determined to remedy that situation (thankfully with little to none success). Besides, the Uchiha heir was simply a very curious individual. His mother liked to say that he inherited that particular trait from her, through he strongly disagreed that his gathering of useful data was in any way similar to her penchant for gossip.

It didn't quite stop Shisui from calling both his aunt and cousin stalkers when he had a chance to catch them red-handed.

That being said, Itachi had never let anything stand in the way of his research. Shisui's stupidity, a common courtesy or most people's general need for privacy simply meant nothing when he wanted to know something and, in the end, he always got what he desired.

As he looked at the woman, who was now seated in front of him and slowly sipping at her coffee, he thought that maybe thirty seconds weren't nearly enough to figure out this particular person. Setting aside the chest-sniffing and her pitiful flirting skills, he was willing to admit that maybe be had put a label on her too early. She was far more interesting than he had originally assumed, which, for some unexplainable reason, pleased him greatly.

Maybe it was because he simply detested boring people (or any kind of people that couldn't provide him with a semi-intelligent conversation) or maybe he just expected something more from the Kazekage's oldest sibling. There was also a distant possibility that staying at home for a month and a half of his overdue vacation was damaging to his brain. Not that it actually mattered.

"How are you feeling, Hanae-san?"

The woman glanced at him briefly over the rim of the biggest mug in the house, which was roughly the size of her head, a small smile stretching across her pretty heart-shaped face.

"Much better, thank you. Sakura is a miracle worker. Normally I wouldn't be out of bed this early into the illness."

"Are you ill often then?"

"No, not really. Actually, it had been years since I've last come down with something." She sighed, putting the mug down on the kitchen table. "To be honest, I think I've been working a little bit past my limit for the last month and the horrid weather didn't help much."

"You should take better care of yourself then," he commented evenly, thankful that there was no Sakura nor Sasuke to point out that his statement was a dictionary definition of a pot calling kettle. Itachi was as good at taking care of himself as he was at being social, which was plain and simple pathetic. His persistent family was the only reason he hadn't dug himself an early grave just yet. Ever since Sakura had joined them at the Uchiha compound, so she could be closer to her future family and husband, it become even harder for him to not look after himself a bit more. Case in point: he had been recently forced by the little pink-haired fury to take the longest leave from active duty to date.

"So..." He looked up when he heard Hanae's voice. She didn't comment on his words . She also didn't look as if she was about to do it, but her mocking smile suggested she could see through him on this one and wasn't going to listen to him at all. "You obviously know who I am. I, on the other hand, only know that you are an Uchiha, through it doesn't really help me much. There's an awful lot of you, is there not?"

_Feisty and intelligent. Oh, I like that_, he thought with well-concealed amusement.

So she had figured out his last name. He wondered how exactly could she do it without knowing his name. Through the members of his clan looked very much alike, it still didn't explain the how.

"Dark hair, dark eyes, utterly boring colour scheme of your clothing, the clan symbol on the back of your shirt..." She smiled at him sweetly. "I've probably seen a dozen or so of your clansmen march through Suna's gates in the last few years. I learn quickly and rarely forget, just so you know."

Itachi considered for a brief moment not telling her his name and maybe taunting her into a guessing game. It would have been very childish and unbecoming of him, but boredom tended to have this effect on him. There was only so much one could do alone at home, after all.

"Uchiha Itachi," he said eventually, paying close attention to her face.

He was not disappointed.

-o-o-o-

Haruno Sakura was a type of person who rather enjoyed gossip.

She was by no means spending all of her free time on said activity, through with Mikoto by her side it was hard not to. The Uchiha matriarch had a knack for espionage, no doubt about it.

Apart from that very harmless fun, she also liked to play matchmaker. It had nothing to do with her blissful happiness or Sasuke's charming smile. Well, maybe it did have something to do with it, but Sakura wasn't about to admit it out loud. Luckily for her, most of her friends didn't mind her meddling with their personal lives. Of course there were a few who had tried resisting her at the beginning, but Sakura was very good at passive-aggressive persuasion.

But every rule had at least one exception and Sakura's crusade to make everyone fall in love had two.

Uchiha Itachi and Sabaku no Hanae.

She strongly suspected that her future brother-in-law was some sort of hybrid. There was no way that a man could be so damn uptight, even if said man was an Uchiha. Seriously, if you stuck a lump of coal up his arse, in two weeks you'd have a diamond.

Handsome, incredibly talent and a heir to a very prestigious clan – this would make, in Sakura's opinion, an advertisement good enough. That is if you kindly excluded the long list of his shortcomings.

Hanae was a different story. She was selfless to a point where it bordered on plain stupidly. While she really admired that trait in her friend, it was also a reason behind her nonexistent love life. The Suna kunoichi spent too much time taking care of her siblings, who were not only adults, but also capable to take care of themselves. Hanae hadn't probably even noticed when they've grown up in her quest to make their lives the best they could possibly be. As far as Sakura was aware, the woman had never even been on a real date. Considering her age, it was slightly alarming and unquestionably pitiful.

Both of them gave her a headache and to be honest she had absolutely no idea what to do with them, stubborn as they were. Not until she had seen them together.

For some reason she had never thought of setting them up, but the more she considered it, the better it sounded. Not only would they make an absolutely adorable couple, but she was also fairly certain they would be beyond happy together

When it came to looks, they were complete opposites, much like she and Sasuke.

Hanae was petite and even shorter than Sakura. Her face strongly resembled that of a porcelain doll - big eyes, long lashes, small nose, pouty lips and all that. Itachi, on the other hand, was the epitome of maleness. Tall, lean, with board shoulders and an air of authority around him, he was the picture perfect husband material. When he had been holding a barely conscious Hanae in his arms the previous day, Sakura could hardly contain a giddy smile from stretching across her face, because adorable didn't even begin to cover how they've looked.

Of course Sakura couldn't very well just tell them that they were perfect for each other. Direct approach was not something that had ever worked on Itachi before and Hanae would simply die of embarrassment at the mere suggestion.

She needed a bulletproof plan to make it happen and the only person who was better at matchmaking (and would be at least equally as interested) was Mikoto.

The two of them had spent an entire evening after Hanae's arrival swapping ideas, but the only thing they were able to settle on was the fact that they needed to find out if there was a real potential for this to work out. Itachi and Hanae were attracted to each other, that much had been obvious to both females from the beginning, but it wouldn't be enough if that was the only connection they shared.

Their characters matched, through Hanae definitely didn't have a stick showed up her ass, but that didn't mean they could work out. She and Naruto were very similar in this regard as well, and they certainly could never be more than friends.

Shaking her head, Sakura looked into the kitchen with a delighted smile. Leaving Hanae at home with Itachi had turned out to be a marvellous idea, since they were now talking. Itachi was clearly enjoying himself, if the smirk on his face was any indication, and her friend was so red, her hair was almost blending in with her flushed complexion.

On the side note it was truly astounding how much blood could gather under someone's skin without causing an injury.

"Hanae! I'm so glad you're up and about, " she said as she walk into the kitchen, deciding to save her friend before she spontaneously combusted from all that blood rushing to her head.

There would be time to tease her later on.

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><p>Like it? If so, please leave a review. I would really appreciate your input. Questions? Feel free to PM me or ask it in your review. I generally don't bite... ;)<p> 


	2. Chapter 2: Appraisal

**A/N:** I swear that this story is writing itself, but I absolutely love how it's turning out. Through I needed to add another chapter, because apparently seven is not nearly enough to contain what was supposed to be a long one-shot. Yeah, a _one-shot_. Crazy, right?

Thank you to all who had left a review, followed and added this story to favourites. You've all made me very happy :)

To any itasaku fans among the readers of this story - I've recently published one of many one-shots to come. They will all be published under the same title, **"and the shots were fired"**, through all of them will have separate ratings and genres, as well as their own titles. Please check it out :)**  
><strong>  
>Lastly, you can expect chapter 3 sometime this week, probably around the weekend. I'm slightly busy with my other stories (mainly 3 one-shot I'm currently working on and the third chapter of my Avengers fic), so bear with me.<p>

Enjoy the story and please leave a review – they are always greatly appreciated! ;)

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Appraisal<strong>

_(n) an assessment or estimation of the worth, value, or quality of a person or thing_

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><p>Even though Sakura's medicine made her more lucid, she still had needed to stay indoors for three more days.<p>

It gave her opportunity to meet her hosts, who turned out to be Itachi's and Sasuke's parents (because luck was not on her side this time around). Sasuke himself had arrived home on the second day of her recovery, greatly amused by her predicament, but cautious enough not to voice it. After her little run-in with the Uchiha heir on her first day, she had yet to see him again. Not that she missed the man by any means. She was still too mortified by her scandalous behaviour during their first meeting. She was also sure she had made herself look like an idiot during the second one, so any sort of confrontation with him was absolutely out of the question.

That didn't mean she wasn't constantly hearing about said man, because apparently he was the family's favourite and Mikoto simply wouldn't shut up about him, which in turn granted on Hanae's nerves.

When her fourth day at the Uchiha main house rolled around, she was about ready to start walking on the walls. Without chakra. Just to see if she could actually do it.

She was not used to doing nothing and when she had mentioned it to Mikoto, the woman showed some mercy and agreed to take her grocery shopping. While it wasn't the most exciting thing in the world, Hanae was reaching the point where even scrubbing the floors seemed entertaining, so she eagerly nodded her head and waited semi-patiently until Mikoto was done with preparing lunch.

Sakura had thoughtfully lend Hanae one of her heavy winter cloaks, since it didn't make sense to buy one this late in the season. They were quite expensive too. Besides the weather was supposed to get much warmer in the upcoming weeks. It was February, after all, not the middle of December. The canopies of snow and harsh blizzards were uncommon in the Fire country's rather winter-less climate, so most people didn't believe it would last. Hanae could only hope they were right.

They departed from the house in comfortable silence. From what she could see, the district was very well-kept. The children's laughter, people's voices and the crunching of fresh snow underneath her boots were enough to make her feel at home in this strange place far away from the comfort of her own village. Maybe a year in Konoha wouldn't be too bad.

As they reached the gates, Hanae sensed a familiar chakra signature. Her face almost split in two in a wide smile when Naruto walked slowly from around the corner.

"Naruto!" She called probably loudly enough to wake up the dead. He grinned and flash-stepped, materializing next her and Mikoto in an instant.

"My, Hanae-chan. You sure don't look ill to me," he teased in greeting before giving her one of his famous bear hugs.

"Well, what can I say? Sakura and Mikoto-san are taking very good care of me."

"Damn. And here I thought that one of the ever-charming Uchiha men was behind your good mood!"

She rolled her eyes in exasperation as she shoved him away playfully.

It was hard to believe that the witty man standing in front of her was simply an older and more mature version of the annoying brat she had encountered for the first time four years ago. Naruto had probably changed the most over the years out of all the people she knew and Kagehood suited him well. Dressed in the traditional white and red Kage robes, he looked every inch the serious political figure that he was, through the goofy grin he was currently sporting as well kind of dispelled it a little.

"Ah, Naruto-chan. How have you been? I haven't seen you in forever!" Mikoto said as she stepped closer to the man to give him a hug and then a kiss on the cheek. As amused as she was by the honorific, Hanae could swear that the Uchiha matriarch was the only person who could call the blond shinobi 'Naruto-chan' and live long enough to tell the tale. "You should come by more often."

"If it was only that easy, Mikoto-kaa-san," he sighed. "Chunin Exams are next months, ANBU try-outs are in a week, then the Kage summit is going to be held in Konoha in three month on top of it all... I think I'm sooner going to drown in paperwork than find time to do anything I really want to do." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Which reminds me! Are Fugaku-san and Sasuke-teme home? I need to borrow them for a moment."

"I'm afraid not. All of my boys decided to train together for a change. They've left very early in the morning and are yet to come back."

"Damn it," Naruto cursed under his breath. "Do you know which training grounds are they on?"

"Fugaku mentioned something about fourteen, but I can't be sure."

"That's certainly helpful enough." He grinned at her. "So where you two going?"

"Grocery shopping," Hanae answered with a small frown. "I'm getting restless. You know how much I hate sitting around and being unproductive."

He nodded.

"True that."

"Hanae-chan, maybe you should go with Naruto-chan here?" Hanae turned to look at Mikoto, both of her eyebrows lifted in question. "I only need to by some tea leaves and rice. I can do it on my own. Maybe after Naruto-chan is done talking with my husband and son, he will give you a tour around the village?"

There was something strange about the glimmer in Mikoto's eyes. It reminded her strongly of Temari and she didn't like it one bit, but before she had time to think about it some more, Naruto put his arm around her shoulders to pull her against his side, squeezing all the air out of her lungs in the process.

"That's a very good idea!" He looked down at Hanae with a grin. "What do you say?"

"Let me go and then we will talk," she grunted in response and thankfully he did just that.

However skilled she was, there was no doubt in her mind that Naruto was a way better ninja, not to mention definitely stronger. No wonder, really, since she barely reached his shoulders and her training had been severely lacking in all but taijutsu for years now. If he hadn't decided to let her go, she would have stayed were she had been (meaning almost flattened to his side), and it made her angry for some reason, mostly at herself. Some ninja she was. How did she even manage to become a jounin if she couldn't escape from a simple embrace?

She noted to herself that she should ask around for someone to train her, preferably a good Fire user. Her ninjutsu, elemental or not, could use some work.

Naruto apparently took her silence for a 'yes', because he was already dragging her away. Mikoto waved at them with a smile before taking a turn to the left, the same direction Naruto came from, and disappearing from view shortly afterwards.

Resigned to her fate, she quickened her pace so it matched Naruto's and then tried in vain to keep up with what he was saying.

-o-o-o-

When they finally made it to the training grounds half an hour later, Hanae had been filled in on everything there was to know – and then some – about all the people Naruto interacted with on a daily basis.

She was happy to learn that Hinata, Naruto's lovely wife, was well into the second trimester of pregnancy and they were expecting a boy.

Then there was this hilarious bet that Naruto had made with Sasuke and a few others. Apparently Kakashi-san was still a bachelor, through there were rumours circulating around the village that he was in a secret relationship with someone. The whole scenario had 'Sakura The Matchmaker' written all over it in bold and Naruto probably realized it too, because he was betting on Kurenai-san as the mysterious lady friend. A very good pick, if anyone asked her.

So while his position as the Hokage didn't technically allow him to participate in a bet like this, he was apparently far from caring, if it meant that he could get his hands on Sasuke's money.

There were others, of course, but Hanae didn't know three quarters of these people. It was completely pointless to try and remember whatever he had been saying about them, since she wasn't going to need it anyway.

The ground shook suddenly, taking her mind off Naruto's babbling.

She closed her eyes. With her hands in the Hitsuji seal, she pushed her chakra out in gentle waves to cast Kagura Shingan. Within seconds the technique was completed and she could see what was going on.

As far as she could tell there were four other people nearby. Their chakras were simply blazing and so impossibly bright it was almost painful to look at them. They were obviously engaged in combat. If it wasn't for her chakra sensing abilities, she doubted she would have been able to follow their movements. It's easier to keep track of chakra than a moving human being, especially at the insane level of speed they were displaying.

Of course she had been aware that Sasuke was very fast. Out of the four members of Team 7, he had been the one she had sparred with the most over the years. He had been in and out of Suna almost constantly in the first two years after the Fourth Shinobi War and the two of them had often engaged in combat.

Now it was quite easy to see that he had been holding back on her during all their training sessions.

But the thing that truly surprised her was the fact that the people he was sparring with seemed to be even faster, if such a thing was even possible.

"Oi! Time out!"

It wasn't exactly a command, but the tone of Naruto's voice was still stern and left no room for argument.

She opened her eyes and realised the seal when the four shinobi were close enough for her to see them. Even without the help of her little jutsu, she could still feel their chakras.

A smile appeared on her face at the familiarity and warmth of Sasuke's signature. Fugaku-san's chakra was similar to his younger son's, but much calmer. He had more control over it, which wasn't really surprising – an experienced shinobi of his calibre surely knew all of his limits very well. A man with curly hair, who was walking next to Sasuke, had a very chaotic aura about him, but his chakra too was warm and, dare she say, friendly.

Itachi's chakra was a different story.

A feeling of safety and _home_, for the lack of better word, had washed over her so suddenly it had almost knocked her to the ground. It was overwhelming and she had never felt something like this before.

Blinking to rid herself of those unwelcomed feelings, she noticed that Naruto had already taken Fugaku-san and Sasuke to the side to talk with them. And as embarrassing as it was, she could feel Itachi's eyes on her. He was standing very close to her too. She dared a hesitant glance in his direction.

He smirked at her, through she could almost call in a smile.

"Hi, Itachi-san," she said in a surprisingly calm voice, which was quite an accomplishment, considering her inner turmoil.

"Good afternoon, Hanae-san."

They stared at each other for a while, neither of them willing to extend more than a polite greeting. Hanae knew that she should actually say something, but she could still feel his chakra humming quietly next to her and it was very distracting. So distracting, in fact, that she could barely hear her own thoughts over her erratic heartbeat. His unwavering eyes locked with hers weren't helping the case as well.

"Don't be rude, little Tachi, and introduce me to the pretty lady," said someone to her left and only then did she realize that they weren't alone.

She turned slightly to look at the man. He was tall, much like both Itachi and Sasuke, and he also shared their colouring – dark hair, dark eyes and pale skin. His smile was nice and welcoming, and his eyes seemed to twinkle with mischief, which set him apart for the other men with whom he was probably related. H e was quite handsome too.

"Sabaku no Hanae, the oldest sibling of the Godaime Kazekage," Itachi responded to the inquiry. "Hanae-san, this is my cousin, Uchiha Shisui. Please excuse his behaviour, he tends to be more... _enthusiastic_ about females than is strictly necessary."

"It's okay," she snorted as Shisui glared at his cousin. "It's nice to meet you, Shisui-san."

"The pleasure is all mine!" He seemed to recover from his anger rather fast. "What brings you to Konoha?"

"Sakura's wedding and my duties."

"What the wedding of my baby cousin and Pinky has to do with anything?" He asked, clearly puzzled.

"I'm her maid of honour."

"Really?" She couldn't understand why he was glancing between her and Itachi as he said that, dragging the word out a little. "And what duties?"

"I'm Suna's ambassador. My siblings decided that I need to do something 'fun'." She made quote marks with her fingers and rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. "I don't see how attending meetings, fighting with paperwork and trying to keep Suna's shinobi from doing something completely moronic qualifies as fun, but that's what I've been told. Through it's not much different from what I'm doing when I'm at home. I guess they think that the new environment will make it more entertaining."

When she finished speaking, two things happened at once – Itachi snorted quietly and Shisui started laughing like a madman. It took some time, but after a few minutes the very un-Uchiha-like Uchiha was finally able to say something that wasn't interrupted by feats of hysterical giggles every other second.

"Oh, I like you, Flower-chan! You got spunk!" He patted her on the back with a wide grin on his face. "We should all go out sometime, ne?" He glanced at his wrist watch and then whistled. "I need to go. The little lady is probably already waiting for me. I'll see you around, Flower-chan!"

And with that he simply disappeared. Not in a puff of smoke like most shinobi tended to do, but just simply disappeared into thin air. As versed as Hanae was in chakra reading, she couldn't for the life of her explain this phenomenon. He just flickered out of existence!

"Did he just...? How is it...? But... What?" She looked at Itachi with a facial expression that clearly read help-me-I'm-majorly-confused, but his only reaction were an arched eyebrow and a smirk.

"He's always like this?" She asked after calming down a bit, referring to both Shisui's behaviour and his character.

"Yes," Itachi responded after a moment as his smirk widened to a small smile. "Unfortunately."

She nodded.

"The disappear-from-the-face-of-Earth thingy he did... Is it a jutsu of some sort?" At his questioning look, she added: "I felt his chakra go hyper for a moment."

"'Go hyper'?" He repeated slowly. "And you _felt_ his chakra?"

"Yeah, I'm a chakra sensor. Useful ability, if you ask me. I can feel yours too. Anyway! A jutsu, right?"

In her quest for the truth, she completely missed the look he gave her or the ones the rest of the people present were giving them.

-o-o-o-

"I'm not going crazy, am I?"

"Hn."

"You sure about that, teme?"

"Hn."

"Like, sure _sure_ or just sure?"

"Hn. You are an idiot."

"Have some respect for your Hokage, Sasuke."

The Uchiha in question glanced at his father who, for all intents and purposes, appeared highly amused by the scene he was witnessing. Sasuke couldn't quite blame him.

His older brother was conversing with someone. Without being forced to do so. And not just with any someone, but with a _female_ someone.

The world as they knew it was ending.

Through he would be the last person to admit it, over the years Sasuke had suspected that his beloved sibling was either asexual or gay and so he had resigned himself to the possibility of becoming the head of the clan as a consequence of Itachi's unattached status. After all it was a well known fact that the heir needed to be married before taking over the responsibilities of the patriarch. And Itachi had never before shown even an ounce of interest in any girl – not to anyone's knowledge, at least.

Now, through, it was painfully obvious that his brother was straight and obviously enamoured with the redhead Suna jounin if the flirting and playful banter he was an unwilling witness to were anything to go by.

"She would make a fine matriarch."

Sasuke's head had turned so fast at his father's words that he was kind of amazed he didn't give himself a whiplash.

"Totally agreed," said Naruto with a shit-eating grin that made him feel slightly uneasy. "Sakura-chan thinks so too."

"Is that so?" His father's expression was alarmingly similar to his best friend's and Sasuke didn't like it one bit.

"Yeah." The Hokage nodded. "To her credit, I think Sakura-chan is rather good at setting people up. Plus I can see why she would think that Itachi and Hanae-chan would make a decent couple. Honest to Kami, I've never seen our favourite weasel so entertained in my entire life!"

Which was actually true, because Sasuke hadn't seen his brother in such a good mood in a very long time either.

Through Hanae was a loudmouth, much like her sister, and had a temper to match Sakura's, she was also a good person. He liked her company and their sparring sessions were always something he secretly looked forward to whenever he was being sent to Suna. Having her permanently stay in Konoha – if she actually decided to pursue a relationship with his brother – would be more that acceptable. Not only because he would have a good sparring partner besides Naruto and occasionally his brother, but also because it would mean that the threat of becoming the head of the Uchiha clan would permanently disappear if Itachi and Hanae actually got married.

A vision of the two kissing and doing other _things_ made him briefly reconsider his decision to maybe-possibly-probably help them along, but after a short debacle he came to the conclusion that he could live with them being all lovey-dovey as long as it meant that he would never be named the heir in Itachi's place. Everything – literally everything – was better than dealing with those old meddling geezers that liked to call themselves their clan elders.

"I was supposed to give Hanae-chan a tour around the village, but damn, I don't know if I want to interrupt them," Naruto said and a metaphorical light bulb lit up over Sasuke's head.

"We can always force nii-san to do it instead," he murmured with a smirk.

Two pairs of eyes – one black and almost glowing with interest , the other blue and as wide as saucers in a mixture of disbelief and unholy glee (which was such a Naruto thing, Sasuke had to suppress a snort) – were locked on him almost immediately.

His smirk only grew wider. He could actually see now why his dear fiancée enjoyed meddling in other people's businesses so much – it was more entertaining than anything should be allowed to be.


End file.
